I AM. IT IS A DECLARATION OF EXISTENCE. OF RESISTANCE.
This is not just a poster; ‘2023’ is the fourth awareness-raising campaign against stigma surrounding mental health, organised by ARTEMIDE Casa della vita in Racale, with the aim of promoting the social inclusion of people experiencing chronic psychological distress.
From 10 October 2023 – the date on which World Mental Health Day is celebrated – posters featuring portraits of some of the residents of the centre, created by the Salento-based illustrator and live painter Massimo Pasca, have been displayed along the main streets of Racale.
This public art project stems from the need to connect the community of residents at the Casa per la Vita with the wider local community. It is an ‘original’ way of contributing to the fight against stigma – a term used to describe how a diagnosis of mental illness and the behaviours associated with it trigger negative and dismissive attitudes in people, without them having any real understanding of the issue. The stigma associated with mental illness creates a vicious circle of alienation and discrimination – understood as the deprivation of rights and benefits – for the person affected, their family and the whole community around them, often becoming the main source of severe social isolation, leading to marginalisation and prolonged exclusion.
What you see on display are not merely illustrations; they tell stories of lives, of existential experiences which, whilst having been touched by the illness, need not necessarily be reduced to it.
Exhibition
12 July > 26 October 24
